


Here from Eden, just to sit outside your door

by HighLadySolo



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Ben is skeptical, Ben's not under a spell he's just in love, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff, Leia is president, Modern AU, Reylo Fall AU, Why are there plants everywhere, Witch!Rey, oh shit she's hot, political au without the politics
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-03
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:06:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26753290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HighLadySolo/pseuds/HighLadySolo
Summary: Leia Organa is the new president who calls Rey to clear out bad energies after the White House is vacated by its disgusting former inhabitant.  Ben Solo works for his mother and is quite the skeptic.
Relationships: Rey & Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 8
Kudos: 34





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to Skyeryder for the beta-read, to Moooooon for being herself and for helping me with the witchiness, and to Michelle, Melissa, Dani, Els, and Nikki for egging me on when the idea popped into my head.
> 
> So the elections in Chandrila obviously fall at a different time than ours. We're imagining this to be set in early Septmeber, with events leading up to Mabon.

Some days Ben Solo wondered if his mother was a sadist. Some days it felt like his mother was punishing him for the mistakes he made in his youth. But most days he was just _tired._

He felt both of these things quite profoundly on his first day in the White House.His first steps should have rung warning bells, but he didn’t quite register the leaves and herbs until he was fully inside. Ben was rather surprised to find plants everywhere, in the White House of all places.The scent of green and growing things filled the air, and it was _wrong;_ there should not be plants all over the White House for fuck’s sake.But because his mother was Leia Organa, and because Leia Organa always got her way no matter what, Ben decided to just roll with…whatever it was and hoped it was just a plant phase.One could never tell with his mother.

Ben wandered around looking for Leia on his first day of work as Chief of Staff in the new Organa administration, so blindsided that he couldn’t even fully appreciate that he was working in the fucking White House and not under some trumped-up, evil man’s thumb _._ Though he wasn’t particularly enthused about the job, Ben had accepted his mother’s offer because he had been stupid in his younger days.So he decided to work with her, as a favor, he said, certainly not because he felt her owed her. In all his years, with his fancy degrees, Ben never thought that he would come to his mother for help, or work for her after she had rescued him from a shitty situation. Somehow, Ben found that he didn’t hate the idea of working for her.

So he wandered around the White House looking for his mother, the new president.But what he found instead was a very small, very strangely dressed woman.

“Are you lost?” he asked trying to keep the confusion and distaste from coloring his voice.

She turned around to look at him.The woman was dressed in a cardigan that was roughly five sizes too large, with enormous, overstuffed pockets. Beneath that lay a gauzy, also too-large blouse and a beaded, tiered skirt that he felt might look more at home on an old-timey fortune teller at a carnival.Her hair was twisted into a messy braid over one shoulder with little pieces framing her face, and somehow she had vines and ribbons plaited through the braid. 

“Oh, hi,” she said brightly.“I’m not lost!Are _you_ lost?” Her voice held a trace of a British accent. 

Ben just blinked down at her. 

“Who are you?” he asked after a moment of staring.

“I’m Reannon Byrne, but you can call me Rey,” she said and stuck out her hand. 

The half-moons of dirt beneath her nails kept him from shaking that hand.Ben despised dirt, so he gave an awkward wave, which she returned with a quirk of an eyebrow.

“Why are you here?” His words came out slowly; he was still confused and staring at this very odd little woman. 

Leia chose that moment to appear.

“Oh, Benji,” she said, and Ben gritted his teeth at the childish nickname.“I’m so glad that you’re here! And I see that you’ve met Rey!” 

Rey seemed to have disappeared.

“Right,” Ben said, “and who _exactly_ is Rey?” 

“Rey is helping me clear out all of the bad energy from…the previous resident.”

“Oh,” Ben said simply. 

Leia refused to say her predecessor’s name because the evil old man had been the reason for Ben’s falling out with his family and subsequent need for rescuing.Ben had worked for the former president in his younger, stupider days when he was drunk with power, and his atonement or penance or thanks or whatever it was, was working with his mother.In the end, Ben had seen the error of his ways and gone to Leia for help, and it had been Ben switching sides that helped Leia win the election.So he felt a very profound sense of duty to rid the world of all traces of the White House’s previous resident. 

Although Ben did not understand why his mother felt compelled to hire someone as odd-looking as Rey was to help her get rid of… whatever she was getting rid of, Ben decided to just roll with it and hopefully avoid this very strange looking small woman. As the day went on, Ben wandered around familiarizing himself with White House protocols and the new staff,he kept coming across leaves and herbs twisted together lying in corners and on windowsills or in drawers. It was all very odd and very unprofessional, and Ben felt that it should not exist in the White House.So when he finally encountered the strange Rey again, he asked her what she was doing.

“Well,” she began, “your mother asked me to help her get rid of all the negative energy that lingers here.”She sounded sincere, but Ben was skeptical because she looked so odd and was mussed and dirty, and she smelled like the forest at twilight.

Not that he would know what the forest at twilight smelled like; Ben was _not_ a fan of the outdoors.

“What _exactly_ does that entail?” Ben asked suspiciously.

She thought a moment before speaking and dug her hands into her very large pockets.

“I’m using these herbs, rosemary, sage, and lavender, and leaving them where the energies seem to have collected the most.” She sounded so matter-of-fact that Ben almost believed her for a second.

“You are leaving… plants… in corners to get rid of… energy.” He did _not_ believe this charlatan woman.

Rey blinked up at him with large green eyes, green like the leaves dripping with rain, or like the leaves that she kept trailing behind her like breadcrumbs on a path. 

“Of course!” Her bright, cheery voice was beginning to grate on his nerves.“Tomorrow, I’ll come back to check the progress, lay a salt perimeter, maybe bring some crystals and mirrors.”Her brow furrows and her nose scrunches as she appears to be deep in thought.

Feeling his mouth fall open, and not caring, Ben gaped at her. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Benjamin is not fond of rocks and is oblivious as to how to drink tea. 
> 
>   
> 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to skyeryder01 for beta reading and for those who encouraged this.
> 
> I know nothing of the inner workings of the White House, and that is painfully obvious. Just roll with it. Also, I feel like I read somewhere that Michelle Obama put an Oushak carpet in the Oval Office, and I just kind of went with that.

The rest of Ben’s first day working with Leia was much more of the same. Every time he rounded a corner, he found little bundles of fragrant herbs or Miss Byrne herself. He’d decided not to call her Rey; it was too familiar for a person he had no interest in being familiar with. And the decision had seemed to rankle her. Leia, on the other hand,  _ loved _ Rey. In the rare moment when she wasn’t being briefed by someone or signing something or posing for a photo, Leia positively gushed over the…herbalist? Ben wasn’t sure what the woman’s title was, or if she even had a title. A little note was made in his to-do list to be sure the tax-payers weren’t funding…whatever it was she did with the plants.

On his second day at the White House, Ben found  _ more _ plants. And gods-knew-what else. He sighed through his nose as he picked his way around little bowls filled with salts and flower petals, and nearly dumped his coffee all over the carpets when an unearthly screech startled him.

He dumped his coffee all over his second-favorite suit instead.

“I’m terribly sorry,” Miss Byrne said, appearing from behind a desk, “but you nearly broke the salt line.”

“The salt line?” Ben asked faintly, before looking down. The toes of his impeccably polished black oxfords were a hairsbreadth away from touching a line of coarse, white salt that lay outside the Oval Office. Leia’s office. 

There was salt on the  _ original  _ Oushak carpet. In the  _ Oval Office. _

“Miss Byrne,” Ben said sternly, trying to catch the coffee dripping down his front with his hands while still balancing the now-empty mug in his hands, “you can _ not _ put salt on the carpets! This is a priceless antique!”

“Well  _ Mister _ Solo,” she said, emphasizing the title and peering up at him. Her hair wasn’t braided; this time she had it up in a messy knot that looked more like a birds nest than hair. He was fairly certain he saw twigs poking out from between the flyaway hairs. “Your mother asked me to rid the White House of  _ his _ energies.” She apparently refused to say the old man’s name too. Interesting. “And I’ve cleared her office, so I’m making a line to keep any more negativity out,” she said brightly, no longer looking at him but crawling back beneath the president’s desk. 

A faint thunk sounded from where she was now hidden beneath the expanse of mahogany.

Minding his coffee-soaked shoes, Ben tried to take a step forward into the room and promptly tripped over the edge of the Oushak. 

Swearing loudly as he fell to his knees on the old rug, Ben lost hold of his mug and it went flying across the room.

“Honestly, Ben, mind the Oushak.” Leia’s voice sounded from behind him. 

“What - I - she -“ Ben spluttered, leaning back on his heels. Kneeling on the floor as he was, he was nearly eye-to-eye with his mother. The lower vantage point sent his mind reeling back to decades earlier, to Leia sobbing over their scarred kitchen table with Han’s arm slung over her shoulder, sliding a mug of tea over to her. 

“It’s because I’m a  _ woman _ ,” she hissed into the mug, shaking with her angry tears. Younger Ben watched through a crack in a door, being in awe of his mother’s ability to take such a beating in her work as a Senator but still putting on a brave face each and every day and returning.

Another thunk from beneath the desk broke Ben from his reverie, and Miss Byrne appeared once again, rising with a large basket in tow. 

“Madam President,” she said, and…curtsied? “Good morning.” When she rose from what was definitely a curtsy, Miss Byrne appeared to be wearing a slightly less horrendous outfit than that of the previous day. She wore an off-white lace dress, that came halfway down her calves with daisies tucked randomly into the gaps in the lace. Around her neck lay strands upon strands of beaded necklaces, some with chunks of rock dangling off the sides. Her arms were similarly stacked with jewelry. A faint tinkling sound followed her every move as she exited from behind the desk, and the scent of gardenia and mint hung in the air. 

“Rey, dear, you really must call me Leia.” Leia held out her hands to the woman and Rey, no Miss Byrne, deposited her basket with a heavy thunk right in the center of the Oushak before reaching out to take Leia’s hands. 

Ben winced.

“I can feel a change already!” Leia exclaimed. “It feels so much lighter and brighter!”

Ben was about to point out that the curtains were drawn and the windows were open to the breeze, but he was cut off by Miss Byrne.

“I rearranged the configuration beneath the desk, but it still doesn’t feel quite right. I’ll talk to Maz and see what she has in stock. And I’ll recharge the ones from yesterday to see if that will make it right.” 

Ben was rather surprised to hear such technical-sounding speech emanate from the wild-looking woman’s mouth.

“Excellent!” Leia said. “Which did you use today?” 

“Mostly just quartz,” Rey said, turning to rummage in her basket, “and some malachite too.” 

“What’s the malachite for?” Ben asked without thinking. Quartz was used in computers and clocks, he knew, but malachite?

“To absorb any lingering negative energies that might sneak inside,” Miss Byrne answered while turning slowly in a circle, looking up at the ceiling. 

Ben blinked at her and leaned forward to peer into the large woven basket. Inside were nestled dozens of rocks in a rainbow of colors. 

“The malachite absorbs negativity,” Ben said deadpan, not asking a question.

“Of course, Benji,” Leia said, as if she had any idea of what she was talking about. “Now help Rey with those crystals.”

“Help? With-“ Ben gestured blankly at Miss Byrne and her basket.

“With the crystals, Benjamin.” Leia removed her glasses from her neckline and perched them on her nose to peer at Ben. “Are you feeling alright? I don’t normally have to repeat myself with you.” She crossed the few steps between them and reached up to try to feel his forehead.

“I’m fine, Mo- Madam President.” He leaned down so she could feel his forehead.

Leia rolled her eyes at him.

“Call me Mom like always, Benji. And you  _ do _ feel a bit warm and sweaty. Go with Rey, and she’ll fix you up with a brew she gave me yesterday. Will you, Rey?” 

Ben refrained from pointing that he was hot and sweaty from outrage that the odd little woman put  _ rocks _ on the  _ Oushak _ . There was no arguing with Leia Organa, even over heirlooms. So Ben sighed and gritted his teeth before scooping up the basket, which was much heavier than it looked. Miss Byrne must be stronger than he thought for her to be able to cart it around so easily. 

Miss Byrne was nodding absently at Leia, but she was stepping closer to Ben and rummaging in her basket. Only the basket separated them, and she was much closer than she’d been in the brief moments he’d encountered her previously. Her faint scent of gardenias and citrus and black pepper and mint wrapped around them. Up closer, he could see the faint blue veins spiderwebbing over her eyelids as she cast her eyes down into the basket, searching for gods-knew-what. 

“Aha!” She announced triumphantly as she wrenched her arm from the depths of the basket. In her hand was clutched a small black stone that she thrust forward at Ben.

“Uhm,” Ben felt his eyebrow quirk upward in question as he jiggled the basket in his hands. 

“Right,” she said, smiling at him. “Here you go.” And the woman leaned forward and gently slid the translucent black stone into his pocket.

Immediately, Ben felt his face burn at her touch. How dare she touch him! And- and she put a fucking  _ rock _ in his Armani jacket pocket. 

Ben scrambled to remove the rock and, in doing so, promptly forgot he was holding the basket. It fell between them, landing with a crashing thunk right on one of the only uncovered patches of hardwood in the Oval Office. 

“Shitshitshit,” Ben swore at the same time Miss Byrne said,

“Nonono!”

Together they reached for the basket of rocks and their hands met on the handles; his on top of hers on one side and hers on top of his on the other. An electric shock coursed through him where their skin touched. For a moment, his hands felt frozen, and he peered down to where his hand engulfed hers. Her hand was tiny beneath his.

Then he realized what he was doing and jerked his hands away. 

Miss Byrne ducked her head so that the wisps of her bun tickled his nose and hoisted the basket up on her hip.

“Come along, Benjamin,” she said. “I’ve got a brew for you.” She winked. She actually winked. Who did that?

She turned on her heel and headed out the door, white lacy skirt swishing around her legs. Ben felt a prod in the vicinity of his kidneys and turned to look back over his shoulder to where Leia smirked up at him.  _ Go on _ , she mouthed at him. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, but did as he was told, moving quickly to catch up with Miss Byrne, who was nearly at the end of the long hall. 

When Ben thought back on the moment later, he couldn’t quite figure out why he’d followed her.

~~~~~~

Rey Byrne’s muscles were straining, but she kept the basket hoisted high on her hip and a smile plastered on her face because she was at the  _ White House  _ by special invitation from the  _ president _ . So she would work hard and earn her rather exorbitant salary. 

When she’d met Leia Organa at a small street fair, Rey had recognized the older politician immediately but had only offered a nod and a smile and an offer of help. Leia had mentioned that she liked the scent of Rey’s lavender and mint tea infusion, and when Rey had extolled its calming properties, Leia had immediately purchased a cup. The two women had conversed easily over the tea, and Leia had eventually asked Rey about her crystal earrings and the rest was, as they say, history. Eventually, Rey began to share more and more of her work with Leia, and it turned out that Maz had saved them both, at one point or another. 

So when Leia had called Rey at four in the morning on what was to be her first day in the White House, Rey immediately began gathering the supplies she’d need to cleanse the space of…him. Unfortunately, she thought as she carried the basket to the office that Leia had declared was Rey’s workspace, she had sorely underestimated the severity of the situation.

She hadn’t considered Solo. 

When she’d first seen him, she’d been tempted to give him a calming draught right on the spot. His face looked pinched and angry, and she’d felt the urge to push him backward into a chair, climb into his lap, and smooth out the furrow between his brows with her thumbs, and if that didn’t work, she’d bet a kiss planted right between his eyes would make him lose the scowl that seemed permanently etched on his face. 

He was a tree of a man, and Rey  _ loved _ trees.

He was also, unfortunately, in possession of some of the most snarled, complicated,  _ sad _ energy she’d ever felt emanating from a person. His aura was smoky black and grey. It was why she’d searched through her entire collection of crystals for the one she’d placed into his pocket. She’d never tell him that she’d chosen it specifically for him after meditating and searching for hours to find the jet black crystal that seemed to mirror his feelings. 

But she’d felt a hint of light in him, and when their hands had touched, light exploded out of him and she’d nearly gasped aloud.

The same as when she’d held the crystal before a flame and seen the tiny pinprick of white at its very core. 

And now he was scowling behind her; she could feel him stomping along behind her as they walked to her “office”. Once inside, she gently placed the woven basket on a corner of her enormous desk and plugged in her electric kettle before pulling open a drawer and pulling out two misshapen mugs which she placed on the desk beside the kettle. Solo hovered outside the door, seemingly uncomfortable to enter her space.

“Well, come on,” Rey said, grinning at him, “I don’t bite… much.” She winked up at him, and he just stared down at her and sighed. 

While the water in the kettle heated, Rey located her oversized canvas bag and rummaged around in it for the tin of tea Leia had suggested for Ben. She’d tweaked the recipe multiple times since Leia had first tried it, and she’d since added hops, chamomile, and a hint of lemon. Finally, her knuckle brushed against the battered old tin and she pulled it out just as the kettle’s automatic shut-off clicked. Carefully, Rey measured out two teaspoons of the herbal tea into the strainers in each mug, then she poured the steaming water over each.

She chose the darker, less lop-sided mug and handed it to Solo, handle first.

“Let that sit for a few minutes, then you’ll be all set!” she said brightly, turning her attention back to her bag.

“Ah,” Solo said.

She’d thought he had left.

“Yes?” Rey asked, not turning away from her bag.

“You might try a coaster. That’s antique mahogany.” Then he stomped down the hallway to his own office.

~~~~~

Ben carefully carried the steaming mug of…plant matter…back to his office, making very certain that he didn’t spill a single drop on the carpet or on his desk. He aligned his ever-present coaster perfectly with the upper right corner of the desk before gently placing the mug on it and promptly forgetting about it.

Several hours, and roughly thirty phone calls and three-hundred emails later, Ben turned away from his computer to see the now stone-cold mug before him. What the hell, he thought, before drinking it as quickly as possible. The flowers and chopped up plant-bits stuck to his teeth and left a horrible bitter taste on his tongue. He thought the taste wouldn’t be unpleasant if he weren’t drinking leaves. 

Ever the polite politician’s son, Ben decided to wash the mug and tiny metal colander that had held Miss Byrne’s weird moistures of leaves and return them to her. When he stood, his head felt…light and strange, but he carried himself onward to the kitchen and completed his task before wandering back down the hallway to Miss Byrne’s office. 

“Miss Byrne?” he called from down the hall before he arrived at her office. He was suddenly very warm, so he removed his jacket and folded it over his arm. He called her name again as he neared her office. But he saw that her lights were off. Normally, Ben would never do such a thing, but he was suddenly so tired and lightheaded that he let himself slump against her doorframe before letting his eyes drift closed.

“Ben?” 

Ben grunted and tried to swat at whatever was bothering him during some of the best sleep he’d ever had. 

“Ben.” 

Now the thing was prodding his shoulder.

“ _ Solo _ .”

He rolled away from the voice and its prodding hands.

“Benjamin Calrissian Skywalker Organa-Solo.”

That woke him right up, and he cracked his lids.

A pair of hazel-green eyes ringed with dark lashes greeted him. They were nice eyes.

The eyes blinked.

“Thank you?” Miss Byrne’s voice said.

Had he spoken out loud?

Ben came back to himself in a rush.

Miss Byrne knelt before him in different clothes than she’d been wearing earlier. For some reason, she’d changed into a tiered olive green skirt with a dark sweater that clung to her upper body and had sleeves that were so long they reached halfway down her fingers. She’d cut holes out for her thumbs, and her nails were painted a glittery shade to match the skirt. 

“Miss Byrne, I brought your mug,” Ben said weakly.

“So I see.” Her lips quirked into a smirk, and Ben found himself thinking that if her eyes were nice, her lips were nicer. 

He shook himself. What the hell had been in that tea she’d given to him?

Unfolding his legs, which he now noticed were tingling and bloodless, Ben rose awkwardly to his feet.

“Were you here all night?” She said in her lovely accent.

“All…night?”

“Yes,” she said. “It’s Wednesday morning.”

“Shit!” he yelped. “What time is it?”

“Nine.”

“Shit!” He said again.

“You said that already,” she said helpfully.

“I have to go!” He was already turning to race down the hallway when she spoke again.

“Ah, Benjamin?”

He paused, feeling slightly panicked.

“You’re a bit…mussed.” 

Ben looked down. Dammit, she was right. The dry cleaners would have a hell of a time getting out slept-in wrinkles, and there was still a coffee stain on his shirt from the day before.

“Thanks for telling me,” he said, then raced toward his office instead of Leia’s. Thank the gods he’d had the foresight to keep a change of clothes in the small adjacent bathroom. Ben ripped off his shirt, not caring about the buttons popping off and flying in all directions, and pulled on clean underwear and slacks, and was trying to simultaneously brush his teeth and use his electric shaver over the sink when a knock sounded from his outer office.

He tried to say come in, but his mouth was full of toothpaste. Whoever it was seemed to have understood and entered anyway. 

“You left this.” Her voice was much closer than he would have expected, and Ben whirled around to see Miss Byrne not in his office, but right behind him.

A pretty blush crept over her cheeks when she saw him, and Ben felt its mirror image cross over his own face.

“Sorry!” She said and threw a wad of fabric in his direction before bolting back the way she’d come. 

When he retrieved the object she’d thrown, which was his jacket, an object clattered to the floor. It was the small black rock she’d given him the day before. Shrugging, he pocketed it and finished dressing before running to his meeting. 

He was only three minutes late.

As the week progressed, Ben found himself making excuses to drop by Miss Byrne’s office. It was to be sure that her multitudes of candles weren’t dripping wax on the hardwood, or that she hadn’t spilled her oils everywhere again. But he found himself wondering what, exactly, she was doing to him.

Because ever since she’d touched him, he could think of nothing but her. 

  
  
  



	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey finds out she has her work cut out for her in more ways than one. 
> 
> "It was a pity, he thought, that Miss Byrne had learned so much about him...and he’d learned nothing at all about her except that her skin glowed in candlelight, her face like the reverse of a galaxy with her freckles like dark stars tracing constellations across her cheeks.  
>   
> 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SUUUPPPPERRRRR BIG THANK YOU TO [SunshineDaysies](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SunshineDaysies/pseuds/SunshineDaysies)  
> for the tarot stuff (she actually wrote the tarot scene and I just 🥺🥺) go read her HP/Reylo crossover RIGHT NOW: [Follow the Blue Butterflies](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24373393/chapters/58783897)  
> also thanks as always to skyeryder01 for tolerating me
> 
> CW// Tarot reading and very light magic.
> 
> More notes at the end.

In the second week of working in the White House, Rey was introduced to another of Leia’s assistants: Rose Tico. Tiny and efficient, Rose was formidable but friendly. Rey liked her instantly, and she felt that the feeling was mutual, though she rarely encountered Rose outside of brief meetings in the hallways or chance encounters near the coffee service. The other staffers seemed not to have the time or inclination to talk to Rey. So far, Rose was the only one who’d bothered to introduce herself other than Dameron. Dameron was nice enough, but he was rarely around. No, Rey’s interactions with her fellow staffers were limited to Rose and Solo.

In fact, her encounters with Solo seemed to be increasing. 

Rey didn’t mind, though. He was alright, really, if one could look past the ever-present stuffiness and a distinct lack of respect for anything remotely arcane. Quite often, more often than was strictly necessary Rey thought, she felt the brush of his eyes lingering over her back, though he’d never meet her gaze when she turned to face him, and sometimes she thought she caught sight of his coattails disappearing beyond a corner when she left a room. His aura was still dark, and it was growing more unpredictable. There were times when his light shone brightly, casting rays through his shadows. But there were still darker days too, days when it seemed the blackness would swallow him whole. 

So Rey resolved to do what she could to help him, despite his apparent lack of disrespect and understanding of what she did. She recharged the crystal she’d chosen for him in water, and sometimes she sang to it after all the others had left for the day. The dark stone responded well to her voice, releasing all of the negativity it had absorbed from being in his presence. She continued giving him the calming tea, and it seemed to help. He certainly seemed less intense than when they’d first met, though she had had to instruct him to remove the silver tea strainer before drinking. He’d proclaimed the tea tolerably drinkable after that, and Rey had hidden her smile beneath the fall of her hair. 

Leia flourished and thrived in her new position as president. Not the first woman to hold the title, Leia _was_ the first female since her mother had held the office over half a century ago, and Leia often confided to Rey that she felt she had much to live up to in order to fill her mother’s impeccably-chosen heels. Rey made sure to have large batches of the tea brewed for Leia, and if she happened to share some with Solo after seeing to his mother, well, so be it. 

For the most part, Rey did her job, and she did it well. But there was one area left in the White House that Rey didn’t want to tackle on her own. So, after deliberating internally for days, Rey finally decided to call in backup; she needed their broader expertise. Once she’d called them and explained, they’d both agreed to join her at the end of the week to rid the White House of Snoke once and for all. 

Until then, though, Rey would have to make do. She’d trapped the malicious energy in an ugly, abandoned conference room, and she had jokingly told the staff that it was haunted to keep them away. Her joke seemed to have worked though, or maybe it was just the lingering traces of an evil old man, but her coworkers kept their distance. 

Except for Solo. Just like catching him pretending not to stare at her, she caught him walking away from the room many times, despite the fact that no other meeting rooms down that particular hallway were in use. Once she’d followed him, wrapping light and air around herself to hide from his view, but all he’d done was walk to the end of the hallway, gently open the door, peek inside, and gently close the door before walking back the way he’d come with an odd look on his face.

Rey didn’t know what Solo was looking for, but she knew that the sooner she cleared the last of Snoke’s energy from the room, the sooner they’d all have peace.

~~~~~~

Ben tried, and failed miserably, to contain his sigh. One of Leia’s translators, Charles Pio III, had demanded a late afternoon all-staff meeting to coordinate with the Gungan ambassadors. He’d droned on and on about President Amidala having made such a good alliance with the Gungans but Snoke having ruined it, and after a while, Ben had just tuned the nervous little man out. 

Ben had chosen a table in the back corner, one near a window, so he could get some actual work done, but he eventually decided that the heat of the room and the approaching line of dark clouds were more interesting than trading policies with Tattooine. A small flash of movement from across the room caught his eye, and he turned to see Miss Byrne’s fingers flashing as she shuffled a deck of cards. He watched her as she spread out the cards on the table, flipping over one at a time, peering at it, then looking up at one of their fellow staff members. She repeated the process several times, looking at a different staffer for every card, sometimes nodding, sometimes looking back and forth between the person and the card curiously before shrugging and starting the whole process over. She paused only once - when she pulled a card for Rose Tico. Miss Byrne’s dark brow arched as she peered at the card, and a little quirk passed over her lips before she placed the card back in the deck and shuffled yet again.

Clearly, she wasn’t paying attention to Charles’s speech either, but she also wasn’t paying attention to him. So he stared at her, trying to figure her out. All the “work” she did for Leia was smoke and mirrors, obviously, and she dressed like some sort of gardening grandma. He made sure to keep watching her to be sure she didn’t do something really awful, like dripping candle wax on the Oushak. Because for some reason, the woman insisted on burning candles everywhere, but he hadn’t seen any drips staining the heirlooms. 

Yet.

His loud sigh seemed to draw her attention, and he jerked his head back toward the window, watching lightning break through the darkness of the clouds. Clouds that were much closer than they had been the last time he’d looked out the window. Surreptitiously, Ben felt himself glancing back at Miss Byrne.

A massive clap of thunder paused III Pio’s incessant droning. Every inhabitant of the room jumped.

Except for Miss Byrne. Her bottom remained in her seat, though every other in the room, including Ben’s own, had not.

Was she that lost in whatever it was she was doing?

Another wave of lightning flashed outside, illuminating the room more than the fluorescents could ever do. Finally, Miss Byrne looked up, straight into Ben’s eyes.

Thunder boomed again.

The lights went out.

Nobody screamed; they were all professional adults. But nervous laughter sounded all around the room. They were still too new at this to know protocols for loss of power, and the security officers had been sly enough to weasel their way out of the meeting, claiming a need to prepare the perimeter for the Gungans or some such bullshit as their reason for not attending.

“What do we do?” Pio’s voice rang out through the room, high and nervous. But that was not unusual for the anxious little man.

“Stay calm,” Leia’s voice said, firmly. “The lights will come on soon. Until then, let’s all stay here, just in case the storm gets bad.”

Ben heard murmurs of agreement from his now invisible coworkers and wondered what they were supposed to do now that the power was out and Pio’s presentation was effectively over.

Light flared across the room, flickered for a moment , then grew brighter, softly illuminating Miss Byrne’s face. 

A candle.

It took every ounce of Ben’s self control not to leap across the room and snatch the candle from her, but she’d already passed it along to Mitaka, who’d jumped up to receive it, and was lighting another that she’d pulled from her bag. The woman just carried candles around in her bag?

Ben watched as Rose came over and plopped herself at the table beside Miss Byrne. She leaned forward, pushing the cards toward the other woman, clearly asking a question. Rose nodded, and Ben watched in confusion as Miss Byrne went through the process of shuffling and pulling cards again. He watched as she separated the nine cards she’d pulled into groups of three, tapping certain ones with her finger. Together, both women leaned forward to peer at a card as Miss Byrne picked up the last one she’d drawn from the deck. Ben craned his neck to see what it was, but in the process leaned too far forward and knocked his coffee mug over, spilling its contents onto the papers strewn all across the table.

Swearing loudly, Ben jumped up and searched for something to clean the mess with. But in the darkness all he saw was the small circles illuminated by the candles Miss Byrne had passed out.

“Honestly, Ben, you’ve been so clumsy lately. Are you all right?” Leia appeared beside his table, two candles in hand.

“Lightning startled me,” Ben muttered

“Hmm,” Leia hummed. “You shouldn’t be over here all alone in the dark; come with me.” She held out her hand, and though he didn’t need the help, he took her hand and followed her - right over to Miss Byrne and Rose Tico.

Inwardly, Ben groaned, and he tried not to roll his eyes too visibly.

“What’s this?” Leia asked eagerly, pulling out a chair and taking the one Rose vacated. The smaller woman murmured something to Leia, who nodded before Rose walked away.

“A tarot reading,” Miss Byrne said, as if that was any sort of explanation. 

“Oh lovely! I’ve been meaning to ask you about that. Do you mind if we do one now, Rey?” Leia clasped her hands on the table and leaned forward.

“Of course not,” Miss Byrne said, shuffling the cards again. The cards slid through her fingers, making faint ruffling sounds as her hands flew to mix them together.

Scoffing, Ben leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his pectorals to observe. Leia listened intently as Miss Byrne pulled nine cards and explained them, but Ben just heard words like past, present, and future and tuned out everything. There was no way a deck of cards could tell anything of any use, but Leia hung on every word the younger woman said. Ben didn’t; he just watched with increasing consternation as Miss Byrne remained passive and Leia grew more and more emotional. Finally, at the end of her “reading”, Leia rose with tears in her eyes and hugged Rey. A firm hand on Ben’s shoulder told him that he should remain where he was.

“So,” he said, after Leia had gone.

“So,” Miss Byrne replied agreeably. 

“What are you really doing?” He asked conversationally. 

Hazel-green eyes blinked back at him.

“Excuse me?” 

For the first time, Ben heard a hint of anger tinge her voice.

“It’s just that there’s no way cards can predict the future or know the past. So what are you really doing?” He leaned around, looking to see if she’d stashed her phone somewhere to Google Leia’s backstory.

“Sit there,” she snapped, her seemingly inexhaustible patience reaching its breaking point. “I’m going to give you a reading, alright? Your disbelief is…tiring, and I don’t have the energy for it any longer.” She cracked her neck and rolled her shoulders as if preparing for battle. Then she rolled up the sleeves of her emerald green sweater and showed him her hands like a magician preparing for a trick. “Here’s my phone,” she said, handing it to him, “so you can’t say I’m cheating.”

Ben blinked. 

“Okay?” He mumbled, more of a question than a statement. How had she known that he’d thought she was cheating?

“Since I don't know you well, and you haven't asked me for any particular type of reading, I’m just going to do a somewhat simple nine card spread. Past, present, future. Three cards each. Open to my intuition and interpretation… Okay?”

It took Ben a second to realize that her question wasn’t rhetorical. “Oh, yeah. Sure. Whatever,” he shrugged.

She nodded then made to pick up her cards. The backs of them were violet with some kind of intricate design in silver foiling. 

Her eyes were focused on him though, more intensely than she had ever looked at him before, and for some reason Ben felt the tips of his ears start to warm. He looked away quickly and inhaled slowly before peeking over at her again. 

She had started shuffling the cards, but her eyes were closed now, which gave Ben the opportunity to study her freely. She looked serene, almost pretty in the low, flickering candlelight. Not that Ben found her attractive, _of course not,_ but objectively speaking she wasn’t terrible to look at, actually. 

The thought caught him off guard.

Maybe it was just because the power was out, the semi-darkness making her tacky outfit not quite so… tacky. That was it, of course.

With her eyes open again, she cut the deck into three piles on the table before combining them back into one stack. She glanced up at him then laid out three cards face-down, then three more face-down, and finally, another stack of three, again facing the table. She picked up the first of the three stacks of cards and flipped them over to peruse them for a few moments.

Her face softened a bit, mouth parting in a sad sort of surprise. 

Ben felt his eyebrows furrow as he watched her. 

He found himself reluctantly curious as to what her reactions meant. What she thought she “knew” about him now. 

She cleared her throat and started the reading in a soft, whimsical voice. “Your past holds deep sorrow, but also hope and transformation. The Devil—,” she pointed to the very first card and Ben snorted derisively. _Of course_ he would get the the fucking devil. “—represents a thing or a person… I think a person in your case, who you had a toxic, but dependent sort of relationship with. You were caught up in the fantasy they - he spun. Power, possessions, status. He manipulated you, played on your desires and insecurities, until you felt lost and isolated…”

No matter how much bullshit Ben thought this was, he didn’t enjoy being reminded of former President Snoke. He stared down at the stray pen he was now fidgeting with. 

“Which brings me to your next card,” she said softly. “The Three of Swords represents heartbreak, loneliness, and confusion. Feelings of abandonment and betrayal; either by whoever The Devil card was representing or by the people you left behind to follow him,” she paused thoughtfully, “or both actually. This card is about your pain, but also your liberation. Finding your way out of the Darkness—”

Ben exhaled heavily, realizing that he had been holding his breath. 

“—and into the Light. But I think that this fall from grace was always your Fate, required to bring out the strength you never knew you had within you. Which ties into your third card: Judgement. This was you on the cusp of your new beginning. You made a difficult choice and then acted upon it. Rising to answer a call for redemption and a more meaningful life. Judgement is also about being judged of course, by the Universe, yourself, the people around you. I think we both know that you’ve been absolved of your misdeeds by everyone but you. You need to forgive yourself.”

“Ben?”

He could feel her gaze heavy on him, but all he did was grunt in acknowledgement. He was not about to discuss any of this with her, and his throat was too dry to speak anyway. This was fucked up. All of it. Either his mother had divulged all his dark secrets to this— woman, or she had read something online about him. Or maybe he was just that fucking obvious. He had always worn his heart on his sleeve, no matter how hard he tried to mask it. 

Thankfully, she didn’t pry further.

Her voice was lighter when she began again. “So, that was your past. Now for the present.” She paused, taking her lower lip between her teeth and flipping over the next three cards in quick succession. “Oh look, it only gets better from there, so don’t worry.”

He wasn’t. 

Because none of this was real. Or meant anything. Or mattered in any type of way. 

“So, for your Present, these three cards tell me who you are right now. Or perhaps who you’re striving to be. The Four of Wands shows me a homecoming, a reunion. Presumably with those you had previously felt isolated from. And based on this card I can now assume that was your family. So, you’re back and you’ve all created this familial, domestic type of environment filled with optimism. Which is rather fitting really, since you are all _literally_ living in The White House now,” she chuckled, then turned serious again. “But for all the harmony achieved, I think it’s important that you and your parents both remember to accept each other for who you really are.”

Ben was still mostly staring down at the table, but he had glanced up at her a few times while she spoke, unable to stop himself. Having long realized that he was not going to participate though, she mostly looked down at the cards and touched them lovingly, brushing her delicate fingers over them as she spouted nonsense inspired by esoteric pictures printed on card-stock, that she’d probably bought at some dollar store or joke shop.

Except that it wasn't nonsense. 

Sure, it was completely coincidental. Or maybe she was just molding her intuition or knowledge of him to fit with whatever card was pulled so that it appeared that cosmic energy or divine intervention had placed the perfect cards in the perfect position. 

Regardless, everything she had said so far had been utterly true and it made Ben feel incredibly uneasy.

“This is another obvious one.” _How convenient._ “The Ace of Pentacles clearly represents your new job as Chief of Staff. This new venture is something that, no matter your other feelings about it, you are taking seriously and want to excel at. I think you’ll take great pride in putting down roots here, like….like a redwood,” She paused and he couldn’t be sure, but he thought she smiled to herself before she continued. “And turning your mother’s White House into a well oiled machine.” 

Ben huffed, in obvious mockery. _Well, it doesn't take a genius or a psychic to figure that one out._

Her gaze was both ice and fire when she looked up at him, cold eyes flashing as lightning flared outside the window. _Okay, maybe that had been a bit rude, but come on._ She stared him down for several seconds before starting again, and Ben found himself both surprised at her sudden ferocity and sheepish under the intensity of her hazel-green gaze.

And maybe he felt something else too, as evidenced by the burn at the tips of his ears. 

“Your third Present card is the Kind of Swords. Which—” 

_Is she— laughing?_

Ben stared at her incredulously. Her hand was covering her mouth and her shoulders were shaking with barely contained mirth, and all he could do was gape at her. She looked kind of adorable. 

For a swindler masquerading as some sort of metaphysical maven. 

One last little snort escaped her, “Sorry, I’m so sorry. That was rude of me.” She cleared her throat in an attempt to squash the impish grin that was still betraying her usual airy countenance. 

He couldn’t believe it. She was poking fun at him. During this— this thing that he was being subjected to. He wasn't sure if he should be annoyed or amused. 

She took a steadying breath. “A King is one of the court cards, which generally represents an actual person in the reading recipient's life, and I think it is _painfully_ obvious that this is representing you.” 

The corners of her mouth twitched. 

Both. Definitely both, he decided, his own lips curling up at the corners to match hers. 

“The King of Swords is highly intelligent and clever. A natural planner and problem-solver. He believes in rules and structure, especially if he’s the one creating said rules and structure,” Rey smirked and Ben rolled his eyes. “But he - you - shoulder a lot of heavy responsibilities so that others don’t have to. This is your way of both protecting and serving them. You pride yourself on having a tough-minded common sense, believing yourself to be a realist, however this often leads to cynicism, pessimism, and a narrow mind. All of this is the lense through which you view and interact with yourself, your family, your job and employ—” 

Ben snorted indignantly, “Seriously? You’re using this as a way to try to ‘call me out’ for being skeptical of your New Age hippie sh— stuff?”

Now she was rolling her eyes, “Ben, I have no control over what cards turn over, nor how you choose to interpret them. Perhaps _you're_ just feeling guilty for being so rude and dismissive towards me all the time.”

“I am not rude _all_ the time.”

“But you are dismissive.”

Ben gave her a look that said, _“Well yeah, duh.”_ Even though he was now feeling a twinge of remorse for his attitude towards her. Not because he was actually concerned for her feelings, _of course not,_ but because as Chief of Staff he should really be mindful of setting an example of professional courtesy.

“Will you just let me finish _and then_ you can tell me all about how wrong I’ve been about—”

“You haven’t,” he murmured. 

“I— what?” She blinked.

“Nothing.”

She just looked at him, studying his features that he quickly schooled into a faux nonchalance. 

“Just finish this… Please?” he added sincerely, hoping to change the subject and not further cement her opinion of him as rude and surly. He gestured towards the cards for her to continue the reading. Not that he really cared about her opinion of him, but in the name of workplace civility. 

_Obviously_.

He politely gestured towards the cards for her to continue the reading. After a beat she nodded, looking somewhat mollified.

“Alright. The next three cards are your future. Obviously, this is not something that you can prove right or wrong right now, so I implore you to just listen with an open mind,” she looked up at him doubtfully, the candles flickering with the movement of her head before she flipped over the final three cards. A tiny gasp left her lips as she studied the three cards she’d laid out before her. She traced the tips of her fingers over the first one before clearing her throat. “But, know that no matter what, the future is never set in stone. You can always make the choice to change your path.”

He nodded at her silently, continuing his attempt at being more friendly, surprised that he found one thing they agreed upon.

“So, your first Future card is— ” she paused, staring at it like it was the first time she’d ever seen it. “Um, so you've got the Queen of Cups here. And um, like I said before, a court card personifies an actual person, in this case a woman who you will either meet in the future, or one you already know, but will become increasingly more important in your life. The Queen of Cups is creative, sensitive, and empathetic. Always trying to nurture and soothe the emotions and energies around her. I’d um, imagine that this woman will be someone who will make you feel calm, understood, taken care of… even loved,” she swallowed. Ben was staring out the window though, thinking that that sure sounded nice, like a fucking dream actually. He scoffed internally. As if he’d ever find the time to find such a woman.

“Hm, well I certainly don't know anyone like that right now.”

Her eyebrows furrowed a bit in the low, golden light. “Oh um yeah,” Why did she sound so hesitant? Like she didn’t believe him… “Well, so, for the next card it's the, uh, Two of Cups, which represents the creation of harmony between you and someone else. The beginning of a new partnership, friendship, or romantic relationship. Possibly with whoever this Queen of Cups person is,” her voice trailed off sheepishly.

Ben puffed out a skeptical laugh. “Yeah okay, I guess I’ll invite you to the wedding when I meet this perfect mystery girl.” He continued to chuckle, highly amused at the ludicrous idea of him finding someone that wonderful who would actually want to be with him, of all people. 

It was probably just the movement of the candlelight, but he thought he saw the barest hint of a flinch at his laugh. He stopped laughing.

She wore a pinched expression that was a little difficult to decipher in the dim candlelight, but she ignored his comment and moved onto the last card. _Thank fuck._ Her reading for him had turned out to be far longer than any of the ones that she had done for anyone else, even Leia. Ben wondered why that was… Probably just her way of prolonging his torture… 

“So your very last card is The World. Which is a rather lovely card to end a reading on,” she flashed him a little smile. “It indicates a satisfying and successful completion of one phase of your life before the next one starts. This accomplishment will be achieved through hard work, but also because of the experiences and insight you gained during your trials and tribulations, as indicated by your previous cards. It's about a difficult journey that will lead to more fulfillment, peace, inner balance. A stronger sense of self. This achievement however, will only be brought about by you finding your purpose, realizing what your goals and desires actually are so that you can actively pursue them. This happy ending could be in regard to anything though: your family, your job, your love life,” she glanced up at him again. “Or all of the above.” 

She took a deep breath. “So my conclusion, or overall takeaway, is that sometimes we must go through Hell in order to reach Heaven.” 

As soon as she said the last word, the bright fluorescent lights burst back to life with an insistent buzz. Ben threw his arm up to shield his eyes, and by the time he’d adjusted to the harsh new light, Miss Byrne had gone, leaving her candles behind.

Tiny trails of smoke curled upward from each as though they’d all gone out of their own volition when the electricity had returned.

Ben rolled his eyes as he absently began gathering the candles. It was a pity, he thought, as he shoved a handful of the cooled wax candles into his leather bag, that Miss Byrne had learned so much about him through this ‘reading’ as she called it and he’d learned nothing at all about her except that her skin glowed in candlelight, her face like the reverse of a galaxy with her freckles like dark stars tracing constellations across her cheeks. As he continued making his circuit around the room, weaving through the sea of tables and chairs, Ben found himself wondering about her past and her family. It was only when he had gathered the last of the candles that Ben realized he was alone in the room.

Alone, except for the faint scent of mint and lemon verbena.

~~~~~~

The end of the week couldn’t arrive fast enough for Rey, who was not normally the “working for the weekend” sort. Ever since her encounter with Solo, she’d felt as though her little world had been knocked off its axis. Rey didn’t like it feeling off-center and out of focus; it felt like some portent of doom hanging over her shoulder, breathing down her neck, watching and waiting for her to make a slip, to catch her unawares.

Which, oddly enough, was how she’d thought of Solo before the reading, but…now…

She’d had no idea about his past. But a quick internet search had confirmed what the cards, and Ben, had shown her. Had she known that she’d be opening such a fresh wound, she never would have pressed him for the reading. Her temper had bested her, as it often did, and she knew Maz would be disappointed in her.

But…the Queen of Cups…

In all the times she’d done a reading for herself, _romantic_ readings especially, the Queen of Cups had been the card she’d associated with herself. And now that she thought about it, she remembered all the times that the King of Swords had popped up and she’d wondered if her future had included someone with those qualities.

Someone…like Solo.

Rey shuddered, pushing thoughts of those broad shoulders and tree-trunk thighs out of her mind, and returned to the task at hand.

Maz and Armie would be arriving soon, and Rey needed to be prepared. She gathered all of the materials she’d need to rid the White House of that disgusting remnant of Snoke once and for all, before heading down to wait for her adoptive mother and oldest friend at the security station near the back entrance. 

Rolling her neck and bouncing on her toes, Rey felt her anxiety pouring off her body in waves. She nodded at the security guards who eyed her suspiciously and tried to contain her nerves. Her skin felt cold and clammy. 

A faint, deep rumbling sent warmth shooting back through her, and she closed her eyes and tipped her head back as she absorbed the vibrations of the sound, nearly purring at the sensation of tension leaving her body. The rumbling grew slowly closer, and suddenly all the blood drained from her face, leaving her light-headed.

She’d been left a purring mess at the sound of _Ben Solo’s voice_.

“Girlie!” Maz’s voice rang out from the hallway, and Rey rushed to meet her rather than face Solo in her current state. Rey raced into her foster mother’s arms, squeezing the smaller woman into a hug. 

The sounds of an argument emanated from further down the hall, and Rey felt Maz laugh silently.

“She is _necessary_!” Armitage Hux’s clipped tones were even haughtier than usual. 

“Millicent?” Rey asked.

“Millicent,” Maz agreed, and they turned together to rescue Armie and his cat from the muscle-bound men at the security.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again a huge thank you to my favorite mermaid, Meli. She seriously went above and beyond when I asked for help, giving me THOUSANDS words to work with and more detailed information about Ben's reading, which I'm linking below since AO3 told me it was too long to [include here](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sDvRQbw1rLZZRVVad9faLmOMDdSfnp_ctVNSw29x0Pk/edit?usp=sharing)  
> .  
> Thank you for reading.❤️

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


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